D-subminiature (professional audio)

D-subminiature connectors are used to carry balanced analog or digital audio on many multichannel professional audio equipment, where the use of XLR connectors is impractical, for example due to space constraints. The most common usage is the DB25, using TASCAM's pinout. To avoid the possibility of bent pins on fixed equipment, the male connector is generally fitted to the cabling and the female connector to the equipment. The DD50 connector is described in AES-2id-1996.

DA15
Pin Quartz

Digital[1]

 Bluefish

Digital[2]
1 Out 1/2 + In 5/6 +
2 GND In 3/4 -
3 Out 3/4 + In 3/4 +
4 GND In 1/2 -
5 GND In 1/2 +
6 Out 5/6 + In 5/6 -
7 GND Out 5/6 -
8 Out 7/8 + In 1/2 GND
9 Out 1/2 - Out 1/2 GND
10 GND n/c
11 Out 3/4 - Out 5/6 +
12 GND Out 3/4 -
13 Out 5/6 - Out 3/4 +
14 GND Out 1/2 -
15 Out 7/8 - Out 1/2 +
DB25
Pin Yamaha

Digital[3]

 TASCAM / Digidesign

Digital[4]

 TASCAM

Analog[4]
1 In 1/2 + Out 7/8 + In/Out 8 +
2 In 3/4 + Out 7/8 GND In/Out 8 GND
3 In 5/6 + Out 5/6 - In/Out 7 -
4 In 7/8 + Out 3/4 + In/Out 6 +
5 Out 1/2 + Out 3/4 GND In/Out 6 GND
6 Out 3/4 + Out 1/2 - In/Out 5 -
7 Out 5/6 + In 7/8 + In/Out 4 +
8 Out 7/8 + In 7/8 GND In/Out 4 GND
9 n/c In 5/6 - In/Out 3 -
10 GND In 3/4 + In/Out 2 +
11 n/c In 3/4 GND In/Out 2 GND
12 GND In 1/2 - In/Out 1 -
13 GND n/c n/c
14 In 1/2 - Out 7/8 - In/Out 8 -
15 In 3/4 - Out 5/6 + In/Out 7 +
16 In 5/6 - Out 5/6 GND In/Out 7 GND
17 In 7/8 - Out 3/4 - In/Out 6 -
18 Out 1/2 - Out 1/2 + In/Out 5 +
19 Out 3/4 - Out 1/2 GND In/Out 5 GND
20 Out 5/6 - In 7/8 - In/Out 4 -
21 Out 7/8 - In 5/6 + In/Out 3 +
22 GND In 5/6 GND In/Out 3 GND
23 GND In 3/4 - In/Out 2 -
24 GND In 1/2 + In/Out 1 +
25 GND In 1/2 GND In/Out 1 GND
Lynx AES16(e) Digital I/O Pinout using HD26[5]
Pin Signal Pin Signal Pin Signal
1 Clock Gnd 10 Clock
2 Out Ch 8 - 11 Out Ch 8 + 19 Out Ch 8 GND
3 Out Ch 7 GND 12 Out Ch 7 - 20 Out Ch 7 +
4 Out Ch 6 - 13 Out Ch 6 + 21 Out Ch 6 GND
5 Out Ch 5 GND 14 Out Ch 5 - 22 Out Ch 5 +
6 In Ch 4 - 15 In Ch 4 + 23 In Ch 4 GND
7 In Ch 3 GND 16 In Ch 3 - 24 In Ch 3 +
8 In Ch 2 - 17 In Ch 2 + 25 In Ch 2 GND
9 In Ch 1 GND 18 In Ch 1 - 26 In Ch 1 +
DD50
Pin Quartz[1] / AES-2id

Digital
1 Ch 1 GND
2 Ch 2 +
3 Ch 3 GND
4 Ch 4 +
5 Ch 5 GND
6 Ch 6 +
7 Ch 7 GND
8 Ch 8 +
9 Ch 9 GND
10 Ch 10 +
11 Ch 11 GND
12 Ch 12 +
13 Ch 13 GND
14 Ch 14 +
15 Ch 15 GND
16 Ch 16 +
17 GND
18 Ch 1 -
19 Ch 2 -
20 Ch 3 -
21 Ch 4 -
22 Ch 5 -
23 Ch 6 -
24 Ch 7 -
25 Ch 8 -
26 Ch 9 -
27 Ch 10 -
28 Ch 11 -
29 Ch 12 -
30 Ch 13 -
31 Ch 14 -
32 Ch 15 -
33 Ch 16 -
34 Ch 1 +
35 Ch 2 GND
36 Ch 3 +
37 Ch 4 GND
38 Ch 5 +
39 Ch 6 GND
40 Ch 7 +
41 Ch 8 GND
42 Ch 9 +
43 Ch 10 GND
44 Ch 11 +
45 Ch 12 GND
46 Ch 13 +
47 Ch 14 GND
48 Ch 15 +
49 Ch 16 GND
50 GND

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Quartz Q1602 small router system
  2. ^ Bluefish AES breakout cable
  3. ^ Aviom DB25 pinout information
  4. ^ a b AES/EBU & Analog DB25 Pinouts
  5. ^ Lynx Studio Technology, Inc. AES16 pinout
Single conductor audio
Analog audio
Digital audio
Video
Audio and Video
Visual charts